Private Crash Landing

[Tess]

Dathomir/Kark Knows​

14:59 local time​

The starfighter rocked and rattled, struggling to stay intact. One of the wings tore off and in the cockpit alarms were blaring. Its pilot, dressed in her usual tight suit and leather jacket, was fighting to keep it in one piece. Her closest chance of survival was the blood red planet of Dathomir. She had heard of it but made sure to keep clear. But right now the wasteland seemed to be the lesser of two evils. She gripped the controls tightly and pulled back on them as hard as she could. Flipping a few switches, she brought up what was left of the deflector shields to protect the remains of her ship against the harsh entry into atmosphere.

She miraculously managed to survive the entry, but now she had to deal with the massive forests and large rock formations. She tried to maneuver what was left of her ship around a jagged rock ahead of her, but she couldn't clear it quickly enough. It took off what was left of the damaged wing and sent her crashing hard into the forest ahead of her. Her ship finally came to a halt and is pilot came to. She took a moment to figure out that she was still alive and surprisingly not too badly injured. She weakly reached out and popped the emergency lever of the pod's hatch. It blew open and she fought to get out of the smoking cockpit. She finally managed to get out but fell flat on the hard ground. There she stayed, catching her breath and clearing the smoke from her lungs. She grunted as she struggled to draw her blaster from its holster on her thigh, then forced herself on her feet. Though she quickly found herself falling back and sitting with her back against the remains of her cockpit. She was a mess. Her once spotless face was ruined with bruises, cuts and soot from the electrical smoke. Her hair was a mess and her outfit was adorned with cuts and blood stains. It had been a while since she looked like this.

"They weren't messing around." she muttered, eyeing a few laser cannon holes on the remains of her intact wing. Rustling in the bushes caught her attention and she quickly levelled her DC-17 at the noise. Her aim was shaky and the gash on her forehead was leading blood right into her eye. "Bring it..." she grumbled, keeping her focus on the dark shrubbing surrounding her. She wasn't weak by any means, but she had no experience in a place like this. hopefully her ship's emergency beacon was still intact....

Nezira Viresh

 

[Nezira Viresh]

The rustling of the bushes started to grow louder and more wild, as if something came charging through the forest at her. The forest around her also seemed to hold its breath, waiting and watching what was about to happen. Would this be the end of Tess? On this strange, wild and red planet shrouded in unknowing.

However, what ended up breaching through the brushes, was just a medium-sized animal, looking very much of something like a Nerf, though much more built and lean compared to a Nerf bulky form. If Tess didn't shoot the sudden appearing animal, it would just stand there, frozen as it looked at Tess. It neither attacked or showed any kind of predatorial features and most likely were a herbivore.

If Tess still didn't shoot at it or attacked the animal, it would after a few minutes of frozen state, dart right and past Tess, not giving the girl any mind at all and seemed more in a mindset of just getting away from her. And yet again, she was alone with her own silence, well, apart from the crashed ship.

a group raspy sounds of cawing broke the silence from a flok of ravens that had just landed, looking curiously down at Tess sitting on the ground by the pod. The raven cawed again, more frequently, sounding almost as laughing as if they were judging the girl for how bad a landing she had made. A couple more ravens landed in the trees above the crashed pod and Tess, also took great interest in Tess for some reason. Just to make matters worse, the ravens above Tess, started to pick some kind of hard nuts and just started to drop them over Tess. When some of the nuts hit her head, the ravens broke out, flapping their wings, seemingly finding it very entertained to torment Tess. While they dropped nuts at Tess, the ravens never sat still for more than a few seconds, before moving to a new spot, making it harder for Tess to hit them with whatever she might have fancied to through or shoot after them

However, the rustling of bushes yet again, made the ravens stop their fun and just sat in the trees, watching and waited for whatever would come through the brushes.

Tess

 

[Tess]

The creature finally emerged, and thankfully Tess had amazing trigger discipline. She watched the animal for several moments to see what its intentions were, before lowering her pistol. It hopped along and left her alone after a while which allowed her to push herself onto her feet. "So far so good..." she mumbled to herself as she looked for a means to get back into the ship. She had to get that emergency beacon going...and get her other stuff from the storage compartment.

However she didn't get far before she noticed the crows. At first she wasn't bothered, but when they started to swarm around her, she began to pay attention. She looked around her with her pistol at the ready. They cawed and screamed at her, almost degradingly, as they watched her. The cherry on top was when they started their bombing run at her. She covered her head to shelter herself from the pieces of bark and acorns that were dropped on her. She fired a few shots at them but they did nothing to scare them off. "Kark off!" she shouted at them. The more they watched her, the more she was alerted. It was as if they were surveillance of some sort, sent to keep tabs on her. Given the stories she heard, she wouldn't put it past the inhabitants of this planet. "What? You watching me or something?!" she called out to the crows just to test her theory.

But it all went silent again as Tess heard more rustling. Again she held her ground and raised her blaster, a cold and bored expression adorned her features. "Now what?" she grumbled as her white eyes studied the thicket. Not only ahead of her, but her flanks as well. She needed to get to her rifle. Or at least its base parts.

She slowly and carefully began to move back. Her free right hand held onto her thigh where a gash was ruining her outfit. But she pushed the pain aside, ready to jump up and climb back into her fighter if whatever was in the brush proved too much for her to take on. "Come on, bring it..." she whispered to herself, her body tensed up to move in an instant...

Nezira Viresh

 

[Nezira Viresh]

When the rustling finally stopped, they moved at if something had exited them, however, strangely enough, nothing showed itself. The ravens cawed and cried out, also giving the sense that they were laughing at Kess' situation. A tiny bit of sound came from something extremely soft with just enough weight to make a sound, though the sound would be impossible tiny. The strangest thing, however, if Tess heard the sound and looked, nothing was there. nothing.

The ravens stopped again with their cawing and watched Tess again. Tess's brain would give her the sense of something was watching her from behind, but every time she looked, nothing was there. And then a voice behind her, "trespasser". If she turned around to fire at what she was behind her, she saw nothing again. Or to be exact, she saw something glimmer, as if Tess was looking at a mirage. If the white-haired woman would aim her rifle in the direction of the mirage, she would feel something at long the lines of a hand grabbing Tess's wrist, while another grabbed the top of her rifle.

The mirage started to flicker and what Tess saw right in front of her, was a pale grey-skinned woman with greyish blue eyes, staring intensely at Tess. She had darker grey tattoos and a red tunic with a wide brown belt splitting top and bottom of it. While the Nightsister didn't attack or try and force Tess's rifle out of her hand, The Nightsister did, however, hold a tight grip, so the rifle wouldn't be pointed at her.

Tess

 

[Tess]

Tess was starting to get a little annoyed with this planet. Nothing emerged from the bushes and she was starting to question her own survival skills. But when the crows stopped again, that's when she felt eyes on her. She spun around and levelled her pistol but again, there was nothing there.

Then came the voice.

She swung around and fired, but a force on her wrist stopped her and caused the shots to miss entirely. The figure then made itself known and showed Tess her face. She blinked in surprise for a moment but then hardened her gaze once again. "Mind letting me go?" she said flatly. "And I can assure you I'm not a trespasser, not on purpose at least." she continued as she yanked herself free from the woman and took a step back. She holstered her pistol but kept a hand close in case the woman decided to try and finish her off.

She took a deep breath then looked at her again. "As you can see..." she she started on a calmer tone. "My ship got torn up badly and I took a few hits in the crash as well. I just need to patch myself up, set up a distress beacon and wait until someone picks me up. I promise I won't interfere or go snooping around." she gave her a small smile to try and add to the reassurance, though she doubted it would work with these backwards witches. She took another step back and looked at her ship then back to her, brushing her messy hair out of her face. "Of course, that's if you can't conjure up a hyperspace-capable ship." she joked lightly, hoping to alleviate the heavy mood in the air between them. She limped back to the storage compartment and fished out her backpack along with an emergency medpack. She looked back to the woman. "In all seriousness, if you do have a means to contact other people or a way off the planet, I'd deeply appreciate the help." she said sincerely.

Nezira Viresh

 

[Nezira Viresh]

Having a stern grip on Tess's wrist, Nezira got a good look at the stranger from the stars. The white-haired woman had very pleasing features, fair skin and a look of determination. Letting the white-haired woman's wrist go when she pulled back, Nezira stood up her full height, looking down at the stranger. She was a strange one, hard to read and seemingly in a light talkative mood.

Listening to her explanation, and while she was she ready to react if Tess did anything, but regardless, Nezira looked over her shoulder, seeing the damage done to the ship. She has seen another person suffer similar damage, though not as destructive, nevertheless, it did remind her of that annoyingly handsome Jedi, Cas. Shaking the image of Cas out of her mind, before she actually started to blush and weakness to this stranger, Nezira looked back at Tess. "You must not be a very good pilot if this is how you get down to planets" commented the Nightsister with a hint of teasing in her voice, though only faintly.

"That's not how our powers work" pointed Nezira out, quite serious, having Tess's joke fly completely over her head as she crossed her arms. Looking Tess over, thinking of what she asked for a minute and then with a quick short answer, "no" and jumped down from the crashed ship. Landing on the ground by the ship, Nezira looked up at Tess, "good luck, you're going to need it" said the Nightsister and added, "it's soon going to be dark" before she started to work in the direction of the same brushes and scrubs that she originally had exited out when going to investigate the crash.

The ravens up in the tree started to caw and cro to each other again and lifted off from their position in the trees. Some disappeared over the treetops, while a few landed on Nezira's shoulder or head, seemingly quite comfortable with her.

Tess

 

[Tess]

She really didn't appreciate the comment. However she wasn't in the mood to argue with her about her flying capabilities. She doubted she would even understand. "Yeah...I guess I'm not as good as I thought." she admitted with a guilty smile and a shrug. The woman went on to comment about her powers, which was as much as Tess suspected. "Yeah, I figured..." she muttered as she worked to get the medpack open.

She stopped immediately, however, at the woman's words. She looked up with wide eyes. "What? HEY!" she called out, getting up from her seat on the starfighter and limping after the woman. "Please help me? I don't know how to survive out here!" she called after her. But in her state she couldn't even properly keep up through the brush and the Nightsister was getting further and further. "What can I give you?! Credits? Some blood if you're looking for that?!" she tried to bargain. But eventually she couldn't go any further and simply watched the woman go. With a sigh she dropped the innocent spacer look and a blank expression fell on her face. Just my luck I land on the planet filled with backwards witches."[/color] she grumbled as she limped back to the ship. Once there, she checked her weapons, rations and tried to get everything into the cockpit before getting in as well. In there she undressed and nursed her wounds as best she could.

There she sat, half-dressed in her jumpsuit with her jacket covering her body as she tore open a ration bar and relaxed. The darkness came rolling in and she eventually closed the hatch before looking everything over. Her ship had flown its last flight, but the systems could still be usable. What she was really after, was getting the emergency transponder going. So with the last bite she tossed the wrapper aside and got to work on removing panels to get her bearings. If the witch wasn't going to help her, she would simply have to survive by herself until help can come.

Her confident plans were interrupted by the sound of an overwhelming roar uncomfortably close to her location. The ship also shuddered lightly as if something very big was in the vicinity...

Nezira Viresh

 

[Nezira Viresh]

Hearing the overwhelming roar, Nezira stopped and scanned the area, ending up looking in the direction of the woman she had left. Rancor thought the Nightsister, and it was a big one. What was a canyon Rancor doing so far away from its hunting ground? Then her thoughts went to the woman on the ship.

The obvious thing to do was to get the hell out of here, a fully grown matriarchal Rancor was no joke, with though enough hide to take blaster bolts. Looking back in the direction she was walking and then back again at the sound of the Rancor. I'm going to regret this thought the witch annoyingly and started to head back towards where Tess was hiding.

Back by Tess and her ship, the bushes and thick treeline broke a fully grown female Rancor out from the treeline, standing 65ft. WIth long tough claws, capable of tearing through thick durasteel. This was no joke of a beast. The Rancor looked around the area that was covered in a row of trees and bushes, forming a circle around the crashed ship.

With loud and rumbling steps, the Rancor walked over to the crashed ship, not noticing Tess in the cockpit yet. With a low curious rumbling roar, the Rancor started to explore the strange metal thing on the forest ground. To make matters worse, it started to use its claws to rip through the metal as if it had been made out of butter.

Closer and closer the Rancor explored to where Tess was hiding and just as it was about to drop explore the ship, as it didn't find any food, it saw Tess. Due to being so close to the cockpit that even with its small eyes, the Rancor managed to see the small humanoid hiding in the cockpit.

With a gruelling and terrifying roar, the Rancor was about to tear the cockpit's top off, exposing Tess, when something crazy happened. Just as the Rancor dug its long claws into the side of the cockpit, something large attacked it. As the Rancor got jumped, shoving it away from the ship, its claws ripped the entire upper case of the cockpit off, exposing Tess to the elements.

What had attacked the Rancor was big, it was black as night, almost bigger than the Rancor and had 8 legs. However, the two giants disappeared into the jungle, completely ruining the part of the jungle forest that they hit. But, because of how dark it was, it was difficult without any night vision, to see exactly what happened in the dark forest.

Tess

 

[Tess]

Tess remained dead still as she watched the beast approach. It was huge, intimidating and it looked hungry. She held her breath and carefully breathed in an attempt to move as little as possible. Hopefully it would lose interest and move on. She sat dead still, only her left arm moving slowly to bring her pistol closer. She couldn't deny that she was no a little anxious.

It got closer and started to inspect the cockpit. Tess remained dead still, refusing to flinch or move in any way that would attract attention. At least she managed to do that until enormous claws pierced the cockpit and almost slashed her arm open. She hopped back further into her seat in hopes of avoiding it...then she saw the beady eye looking at her through the viewport. It roared and Tess covered her ears, unable to weather the crippling sound. But what terrified her more was whatever attacked it. It collided with the beast, causing it to tear open the cockpit and giving her a chance to escape, then disappeared into the jungle. Tess didn't hesitate. She grabbed her backpack, her weapons and she jumped out of the ruined cockpit. Whatever attacked that Rancor gave her a chance to get away from it and she wasn't going to miss that window.

With a limp she ran as quickly as she could into the cover of the trees before hiding behind a massive stump. She zipped up her jumpsuit and jacket, checked her things and turned on the flashlight on her rifle. Her enhanced eyes also allowed her to see better in the dark, but it wasn't a substitute for proper night vision goggles. To make matters worse, she couldn't get her distress signal out and she wasn't going back to the wreckage now with those monsters around there.

Looking around, she realized that she didn't have any other options. She could see no lights or signs of nearby camps and she didn't have any other means of getting off the planet without the distress beacon on the fighter. Her options were severely limited. She could either blunder into the wilderness in search of people that can help her other than that damn witch, or she could stay put and wait until the coast was clear.

She decided on the latter. She holstered her pistol and put her backpack on the ground as she rested her rifle on the stump and looked at the wreckage. She turned her flashlight off just in case as she looked around. She would have tried to listen to any other noises around her if it weren't for her heartbeat going crazy in her ears...

Nezira Viresh

 

[Nezira Viresh]

As Tess would go back to the wreckage she could hear the roaring of the Rancor slowly moving away from the area Tess was in. Yet, something moved among the trees, making the trees and bushes rattle as something big and silently moved in her direction.

Before Tess even had a chance to run back into the forest emerged an enormous spider, black as tar and almost impossible to see in the dark. A low clicking sound came from the great spider, tall as the trees, strong enough to take on a Rancor and all eight eyes were locked on to Tess. And yet, it didn't attack or jump at her. Instead, it just walked towards her as a luminous green smoke started to covered it completely and out of the green smoke, walked Nezira.

Stopping a few meters from Tess, Nezira stood with folded arms and looked at the other woman. The Nightsister looked at the wreckage for a few seconds, before looking back at Tess, "I'll help you... On two conditions" explained Nezira with an icy tone to her voice. "You do exactly what I tell you to do. And you take me with you when people come to get you" finished the Nightsister, not removing her greyish blue eyes from Tess's.

It was not almost pitch black around them and impossible for anyone without some sort of night vision to see through the darkness that covers the forest. Not only that but the nocturnal animals have started to come out, all with various scary sounds that were unnatural to outsiders.

Tess

 

[Tess]

She didn't even get the chance to reach the treeline when the massive creature from before was suddenly in front of her. And now she got a good look of what it was. She fell back and scrammed to move backwards, drawing her pistol once again. But just as she was about to pull the trigger, the massive creature was shrouded in green mist. Tess laid on the ground with a perplexed look, watching the spectacle unfold in front of her. To add even more confusion, the Nightsister from before came walking out of it straight at her.

With a grunt Tess managed to get back on her feet, facing the woman directly. Her mouth opened but she was cut off when the woman spoke up. Tess blinked in surprise at her conditions. The first one was simple and understandable. The second, however, was bizarre. Tess stared at her for a few moments before giving a nod. "Okay. Sure. Not a problem." she said softly, looking around them. "You got a place to camp out? I won't be able to do much now to get a distress signal out." she asked her. Once they were moving, Tess stuck close to the woman. Her pace wasn't the quickest, but she pushed through the discomfort her wounds gave her as she followed the witch through the jungle. "Umm...thanks back there. I figured the local wildlife would come sniffing around...just not something that big." she admitted with a chuckle. After remaining quiet for a little she decided to try and make some casual conversation with the woman...a task she would probably have a hard time accomplishing.

"Hey, you got a name? I'm Tess." she introduced herself. "If I may ask, why do you want off the planet? Aren't you guys, like, really set on sticking to your planet?" she asked her as she walked beside her. Her pale eyes glanced at her every now and then when she wasn't busy watching the area around them. In all honesty she wasn't surprised why the woman wanted off. She was pretty sure any sensible person would want off with the stuff that live on it.

Nezira Viresh

 

[Nezira Viresh]

Hearing the white-hair woman agree to her terms, Nezira nodded and turned around. "Follow me then," said the pale Nightsister and started to walk away from the wrecked, entering the jungle-forest around them. However, this time she made sure Tess would be able to keep up, but only just.

"Yes," confirmed the Nightsister, Tess's question about a camp, though not a very long answer. Nezira wasn't much of a conversation starter as they walked together in the darkness. The silver-white-haired woman kept her ear and eyes open as they walked, listening for anything that might be a danger for them as the night on Dathomir wasn't exactly safe. "yes, you would have likely died" agreed Nezira rather straight-forward with Tess, however, she seemed to catch herself and brash reply. Glancing at Tess, Nezira went quiet for a few seconds seemingly thinking, before speaking up again, "you're... Uhm, welcome" said Nezira awkwardly, trying to sound friendlier. It was quite clear that the Nightsister wasn't exactly used to strangers or laidback conversations with strangers.

Stopping both by the foot of a mountain merging with the forest, Nezira started to count as she walked slowly along the foot of the mountain. "Nezira" replied the Nightsister as she continued to count, seemingly her steps. "Darthomir is my home, but I've never left my home and want to see the stars" added the girl as she stopped counting, standing in front of a hidden path up the mountain.

"This way," said Nezira finally, looking at Tess, before she started to walk up along the hidden path. Soon they were high above the expansive dark jungle-forest and with the two moons out, you would be able to see quite far out.

After half an hour of walking, Tess would notice that they were being followed by something large, something black. If Tess looked to the side, she would see a massive black spider, though not nearly as massive as the one Nezira turned into, but around half the size at least. It kept its eyes on the two girls but kept its distance and pace with them.

Tess

 

[Tess]

Tess was rather taken back by her direct way of talking. If she had to guess, this girl was likely the backward savage equivalent of an introvert. At least she hoped so and the entirety of her culture wasn't like this. She smiled as the woman thanked her, trying to help her relax. She at least introduced herself and gave a reason for her wanting to leave. As Tess listened to her talking, she took note of what the woman was doing. She couldn't help but memorize the amount of steps from what specific spot. "Definitely a good reason. I think a break from having everything try to kill you will also help you unwind." she commented, following the woman up the hidden path.

"I can tell you there's a number of planets that are much more...carefree for a person to live on. Though if you do stick around, and we can actually get off the planet, I can help show you around. My line of work tends to take me to exotic places." she explained calmly to her. "By the way...how would the rest of your people feel about you taking in a stray? Or are you more of a loner type?" she asked her as she stepped up her pace to get a little closer to the girl. "By the way, you..." she started to talk again, though she fell quiet when she felt something move behind them. She stopped and turned around only to stare right into the eyes of a massive spider. "WHAT THE KARK!" she shouted as she moved backwards into Nezira, reaching for her pistol. "Nezira, why is there a massive spider watching us?!" she asked her as she stared at the creature.

She realized she was standing right up against the girl and quickly took a step away. "Um...sorry." she said nervously before looking at the spider again. It held its position but that only put her more on edge. "I'm starting to understand why you want to see the stars so badly." she quipped as her eyes were locked onto the beast. She let go of her blaster but still she didn't manage to move along.

Nezira Viresh

 

[Nezira Viresh]

"My clan doesn't take any issue with it. Many other clan's Sisters takes to the sky to explore" explained the white-haired woman as they headed up the path. Nezira didn't react instantly, instead, she looked at Tess with a raised eyebrow when Tess backed into her with a look that asked 'what are you doing?', before looking up seeing the spider. Without replying to Tess last quip, Nezira just walked past the girl and towards the massive black spider.

As she neared the massive creature, Nezira raised her hand to it and yet, the spider kept its eyes on Tess. Where before it looked like it was ready to jump both girls, but now it looked more as if the large creature were protecting Nezira from Tess. Scratching the side of the spider's head, "do not be alarmed, she only here to watch over me and protect me from danger" explained Nezira casually while having her attention on the spider.

"Her name is Vex and mine" added Nezira to her explanation. "She's been keeping an eye on us, since the forest. Never leaves my side, unless I command it to" finished Nezira as she looked at Tess. Pressing her forehead to Vex, she held the position for a few seconds, before returning to Tess. As Nezira returned to Tess's side, the spider turned and continued up the mountain, disappearing in the darkness. "Let's go," said the Nightsister and continued to walk up the path.

It took them ten to fifteen minutes before they got to a large platform, giving a full view of the entire jungle-forest and much further, though due to nighttime, it made it more difficult. To their left was a larger cave, though it wasn't very deep as one might expect.

Just as they made it to the place, loud thundering rumbles above them, "a storm will soon hit us" comment the Nightsister and motioned Tess to follow her into the cave.

Tess

 

[Tess]

Tess was now thoroughly convinced that this planet was karking crazy. Crazy witch ladies turning into spiders, taking on Rancors...while having spiders for pets and keeping a bunch of swole Zabrak dudes around as servants and boy toys... She had to admit it didn't sound too bad if it weren't for all the stuff trying to kill them. That and the spiders. This was way too much spiders for her liking.

She stuck close to Nezira as she led the way up the mountain. Finally they reached a plateau of sorts and Nezira led her to a nearby cave. Though Tess lingered by the dge for a bit, amazed by the look. She quickly got into cover, though, when the thunder rumbled above them. "Are these usual storms or are they more like something that looks like it wants to tear your soul out?" she joked with a light smile as she sat down on a nearby rock. She sighed heavily and took a moment to catch her breath before looking over her wounds. The bacta treatments seemed to be doing their job at least which was a relief. But this whole outdoors thing really wasn't her forte.

She looked up at Nezira and gave a bright smile. "Hey, thanks again. I'll gladly help you off the planet once we get a signal going. You've helped me out a ton." she said again with a warm tone, showing her gratitude. she slowly got up and walked over to Nezira where she plopped down next to her. "So what's the plan? We gonna stick around here for the night? Trade some stories then move on again tomorrow?" she asked teasingly as she gave her a light bump with her shoulder. She was genuinely curious over the girl but this was more to kill the boredom than anything else. She'd blow her brains out if she had to just sit in the cave with nothing better to do...

Nezira Viresh

 

[Nezira Viresh]

When Nezira entered the cave she quickly sat in front of a small dried out fire pit. Most of it was small sticks, half-burned through, with small rocks unevenly gathered around the small fire pit. The Nightsister looked out at Tess when she spoke, "why would it tear your soul out? It's just rain" said Nezira with a rather uninterested tone, not catching on that she was joking. Turning her attention back to the small firepit, she started to rummage through the sod and burned sticks in order to see if a fire could be lit.

"Good, else there wouldn't have been much reasoning to come back" commented the Nightsister not hearing how harsh her words sounded as she started to find still burnable wood in the pit. Dusting off her blackened fingers, covered in sod and ash, she was about to ignite the fire, when Tess thought she could just "snuggle" with Nezira, or so it looked like it to the Nightsister. With a surprisingly flash of movement, Tess would feel her shoulder be grabbed by Nezira, holding her from bumping their shoulders together.

"What are you doing?" Asked the Nightsister with a threatening voice, seemingly not understanding or getting Tess's friendly intention. It suddenly became rather awkward as they sat in the cave, while the rain outside could be heard closing in on the location of the cave.

Tess

 

[Tess]

Tess laughed a little at her comment on the storm. "Of course. I'm just making sure." she quipped with a chuckle as she sat down.

And that seemed to be a bad idea...

She froze up and grabbed hold of the hand on her shoulder out of reflex, looking at her with wide eyes. She didn't seem to like her 'approach' if it could even be called that. "...Sitting down?" she answered carefully. She raised her hands and shifted away a little. "I was just sitting down, no need to worry. The last thing I'd do is hurt my only guarantee of safety on this planet." she assured her with a nervous smile.

She carefully shifted closer to her again and looked at the campfire. "I can promise you, Nezira, I'm not a threat to you. You can relax." she continued with a friendly smile. "Why so wound tight?" she asked her with a calm and gentle tone as she looked at her. "Was the last Nightbrother a little underwhelming?" she teased with a smile, trying to lighten the mood a little. Though she doubted simple joking would get her to lighten up. "What do you do to relax usually?" she asked her as she turned to look at her somewhat. She hoped that she could get her to relax around her...and at least not make this little partnership awkward as hell...

Nezira Viresh

 

[Nezira Viresh]

Glacing at Tess from the corner of her eyes, Nezira kept the glance and returned her attention to the small firepit in front of them, when Tess moved. With a small flash of green colour in the Nightsister's pupils, like a lightning flash in the night sky, a quick and small show of power. Just as fast as the coloured pupils had shown and disappeared, so did the green lightning with a small crackle.

Within seconds, a small fire ignited and lit up a warm ring of light in the darkened cave, warming their bodies, if only a little. A faint crack of a smile showed for just half a second as Nezira leaned back up against the rocky interior. The Greyish blue eyes glanced to Tess, before turning her head, giving her a cold stare before looking back to the fire, moving her hands up to be warmed. "Do you always talk this much?" Asked the Nightsister, redirecting and not answering Tess's teasing questions.

Keeping her eyes on her hands, rotating them from front to back and back again, letting Tess's last question hang a bit. The silent almost got to an awkward silence, before Nezira finally opened her mouth. "Communicating with the spirits, or spending time with Vex and Kira," said Nezira casually. Right as she said Kira, crawled a normal-sized spider out from her hood and onto the shoulder.

The storm outside started to flash bright white lights, followed by thick crackling lightning splitting the sky in violent arcs, which was quickly followed by the loud boom.

Tess

 

[Tess]

Tess watched her start the fire before looking back to her, a grin forming on her lips. The woman's question made her chuckle as she looked back at the flames. "Only when I'm trying to make friends." she quipped as she looked back at her. "Life's boring without some friends. Even a Nightsister needs friends in her life." she continued as she shifted a little closer to her.

She watched as Nezira thought long and hard. The fact that she had to think this long was rather worrisome to Tess. Her smile started to slip more and more until Nezira spoke up. Her answer wasn't what Tess would classify as fun or enjoyable. Though she looked on with interest as Nezira produced another smaller spider. She leaned to the side a little to get a better look at the spider, though she jumped in surprise when the lightning crackled through the sky. She glanced back at Nezira with a nervous chuckle. "Safe to say, I'm not exactly an outdoors person." she quipped before leaning in again to look at the little spider.

"He's adorable though! Like seriously, that's a lot better than that other one of yours." she commented as she reached out to try and pet the spider.

Nezira Viresh

 

[Nezira Viresh]

With her eyes locked on the small fire crackling in the pit, the Nightsister listened to the calm thunder and heavy rain outside. Nezira has always found thunder and rain very calming to listening to and when she was younger, she would sneak out and sit by the sentries at one of the entrances to the clan's village in the mountain. Right as Tess was near the small jumping spider, it turned in a flash and raised the front legs, baring the two large fangs. "Wouldn't recommend you do that" warned Nezira, slowly turning her head to then look at Tess with her own ashen-blue coloured eyes.

Looking from Tess to Kira, her jumping spider, "it's a she and Kira is still a wild spider. Only I can handle her" explained Nezira, showing a deep fondness for the little critter on her shoulder. The fondness quickly disappeared though, when she looked back at Tess, where Nezira's eyes harden again. "Life is too dangerous for friends. Only your Sisters can truly be trusted" said the Nightsister raising her walls again, to keep the protection up.

If Tess ignored Nezira's warning, would Kira strike her hand, however, if Tess pulled her hand back, the spider would climb to Nezira's other shoulder and then down her body. The small spider soon disappeared deeper into the cave's darkness, before it was impossible to see.

Tess